Science Fair

Dear Parents,

For many of the students this will be their first major AT HOME individual science project. This project is intended to encourage students to THINK about how things work instead of simply repeating back facts that they have learned. Children are naturally curious, and while fun experiments may be exciting and get students interested in science, the real key to the science fair  is for students to learn that the journey through the scientific process can be rewarding -- and
educational.  Even scientific study of something simple still requires a systematic process of acquiring knowledge derived from observation and study.

Science Fair Timeline

Materials List
•    bifold display board (see diagram) – Walmart, Target, or Hobby Lobby usually carries them
•    writing/typing paper
•    glue
•    materials required for the experiment (with some experiments I can help provide the materials)    

NOTE: Students can use the computers at school to type their display material if time allows.                     

Scientific Methods

• What do I want to find out?
• What do I already know?
• Hypothesis: What do I think will happen? This is a good guess or explanation.
• Materials: What materials do I need fo rmy experiment?
• Procedure: What are the steps I will follow to test my hypothesis?
• Data/ Charts: How did I conclude my results. This involves math skills.
• Results: What happened when I did the experiment?
• Conclusion: What did I learn?

Scientific Method Vocabulary
hypothesis -    A good guess or explanation to a question in science.
recording-    Writing down what is happening in an experiment.
observation -    Watching  and recording what is happening in a scientific experiment.
conclusion-     Writing about what you learned from the experiment.

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Information on Regional Central New Mexico Science Contest: http://stemed.unm.edu/

Research ideas: http://stemed.unm.edu/RC_Student_Ideas.aspx

How to do display board: http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_display_board.shtml and http://school.discoveryeducation.com/sciencefaircentral/Science-Fair-Presentations/How-to-Create-a-Winning-Science-Fair-Display-Board.html

Other projects, which our middle school students should consider (previous groups have participated and won in this contest): http://stemed.unm.edu/RC_NMJr_Academy.aspx (this can be same research project but it includes research paper and oral presentation)

Resource: https://discoverystation.org/stay-at-home-virtual-science-fair/

Sample Display Board Layout